Effects of natural and human factors on groundwater quality of basin-fill aquifers in the southwestern United States: Conceptual models for selected contaminants

Bexfield, Laura M.; Thiros, Susan A.; Anning, David W.; Huntington, Jena M.; McKinney, Tim S.

doi:10.3133/sir20115020

Cited by 8 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…We therefore suggest that the isotopic data likely reflect use of multiple groundwater systems bearing water that experienced differing degrees of evaporation prior to recharge. Previous work on public supply wells has documented a wide range of recharge modes for groundwaters within this part of the SLV, such as subsurface inflow from mountain blocks, infiltration from mountain‐front streams, and infiltration of excess irrigation and lawn water [ Thiros and Manning , ; Bexfield et al ., ], but not the wide range of isotopic compositions measured here for group 6 tap waters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Tap water isotope ratios reflect urban water system structure and dynamics across a semiarid metropolitan area

Jameel

Brewer

Good

et al. 2016

Water Resources Research

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Water extraction for anthropogenic use has become a major flux in the hydrological cycle. With increasing demand for water and challenges supplying it in the face of climate change, there is a pressing need to better understand connections between human populations, climate, water extraction, water use, and its impacts. To understand these connections, we collected and analyzed stable isotopic ratios of more than 800 urban tap water samples in a series of semiannual water surveys (spring and fall, 2013–2015) across the Salt Lake Valley (SLV) of northern Utah. Consistent with previous work, we found that mean tap water had a lower 2H and 18O concentration than local precipitation, highlighting the importance of nearby montane winter precipitation as source water for the region. However, we observed strong and structured spatiotemporal variation in tap water isotopic compositions across the region which we attribute to complex distribution systems, varying water management practices and multiple sources used across the valley. Water from different sources was not used uniformly throughout the area and we identified significant correlation between water source and demographic parameters including population and income. Isotopic mass balance indicated significant interannual and intra‐annual variability in water losses within the distribution network due to evaporation from surface water resources supplying the SLV. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of isotopes as an indicator of water management strategies and climate impacts within regional urban water systems, with potential utility for monitoring, regulation, forensic, and a range of water resource research.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Tap water isotope ratios reflect urban water system structure and dynamics across a semiarid metropolitan area

Jameel

Brewer

Good

et al. 2016

Water Resources Research

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“…Even though recharge in the West Salt River Valley and Central Valley increased almost sevenfold from predevelopment conditions, discharge increased even more, resulting in large water-level declines in parts of these aquifers Modified from Bexfield and others (19)…”

Section: Principal Aquifermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Estimated groundwater residence times in the study basins under developed conditionsaffected by artificial recharge and groundwater pumping-are shorter than under predevelopment conditions. (19) As a result, groundwater moves through the aquifer more quickly, potentially transporting contaminants down to the groundwater supply. Geochemical conditions, such as redox and pH, can be altered by oxygen-rich artificial recharge and water-level declines caused by pumping wells.…”

Section: Pumping Changes Natural Groundwater Flow Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Modified from Bexfield and others (19) circ1358 ch04custom sidebar About one in three (35 percent) of the drinking-water wells sampled in Southwest basinfill aquifers contained at least one constituent at a concentration greater than its human-health benchmark (table 5-1). Constituent concentrations exceeded benchmarks more frequently in domestic wells (42 percent) than in public-supply wells (26 percent).…”

Section: Flow In Aquifermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Artificial recharge has become a major source-and, in some cases, the primary source-of groundwater recharge in most of the 15 Southwest study basins. (19) Recharge from irrigation canals, irrigated agricultural fields, and urban turf areas currently provides at least half the recharge to basin-fill aquifers in the Central Valley, California; San Luis Valley, Colorado; and West Salt River Valley, Arizona. Nearly half of the groundwater recharge to the Santa Ana Coastal Basin in California (about 165,000 acre-feet per year) comes from engineered recharge facilities along and near the Santa Ana River.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The quality of our Nation's waters: Water quality in basin-fill aquifers of the southwestern United States: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, 1993-2009

Thiros¹,

Paul²,

Bexfield³

et al. 2015

Circular

Self Cite

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The United States has made major investments in assessing, managing, regulating, and conserving natural resources, such as water and a variety of ecosystems. Sustaining the quality of the Nation's water resources and the health of our diverse ecosystems depends on the availability of sound water-resources data and information to develop effective, science-based policies. Effective management of water resources also brings more certainty and efficiency to important economic sectors. Taken together, these actions lead to immediate and long-term economic, social, and environmental benefits that make a difference to the lives of millions of people (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/applications/). Two decades ago, Congress established the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program to meet this need. Since then NAWQA has served as a primary source of nationally consistent information on the quality of the Nation's streams and groundwater, on ways in which water quality changes over time, and on the natural features and human activities affecting the quality of streams and groundwater. Objective and reliable data, systematic scientific studies, and models are used to characterize where, when, and why the Nation's water quality is degraded-and what can be done to improve and protect the water for human and ecosystem needs. This information is critical to our future because the Nation faces an increasingly complex and growing need for clean water to support people, economic growth, and healthy ecosystems. For example, NAWQA findings for public-supply wells, which provide water to about 105 million people, showed that 22 percent of source-water samples contained at least one contaminant at levels of potential health concern. Similarly, 23 percent of samples from domestic (or privately owned) wells, which supply untreated water to an additional 43 million people, also had contaminant levels of potential concern. This report is one of a collection of publications that describe water-quality conditions in selected Principal Aquifers of the United States (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/studies/praq/). The collection is part of the series "The Quality of Our Nation's Waters," which describes major findings of the NAWQA Program on water-quality issues of regional and national concern and which provides science-based information for assessing and managing the quality of our groundwater resources. Other reports in this series focus on occurrence and distribution of nutrients, pesticides, and volatile organic compounds in streams and groundwater, the effects of contaminants and streamflow alteration on the condition of aquatic communities in streams, and the quality of untreated water from private domestic and public-supply wells.

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Groundwater quality evaluation using Shannon information theory and human health risk assessment in Yazd province, central plateau of Iran

Amiri

Kamrani

Arslan

et al. 2020

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Effects of natural and human factors on groundwater quality of basin-fill aquifers in the southwestern United States: Conceptual models for selected contaminants

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Tap water isotope ratios reflect urban water system structure and dynamics across a semiarid metropolitan area

Tap water isotope ratios reflect urban water system structure and dynamics across a semiarid metropolitan area

The quality of our Nation's waters: Water quality in basin-fill aquifers of the southwestern United States: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, 1993-2009

Groundwater quality evaluation using Shannon information theory and human health risk assessment in Yazd province, central plateau of Iran

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